Micaela “Mickie” Costanzo was remembered this weekend by the track meet that bears her name with sadness of her untimely passing yet at the same time joy in her memory.
If she were still alive Mickie would be nearing her 21st birthday and while what she would have been or would have accomplished in the four years since her death is speculation, one truth that few would argue is that Mickie would be happy.
Happiness that she both embodied and engendered in others was the common thread that ran through all of her eulogies four years ago. Even today when those who knew her speak of her, their tears are quickly followed by smiles and memories of the pretty girl who made people happy simply by being there.
Time passes differently at different ages. For her parents and teachers it seems like only yesterday that Mickie herself was competing in track. But for high school students four years is a different generation. This most recent track meet was significant in that for the first time since she was killed no one on the track either competed with or against Mickie Costanzo. Yet still she is remember and she will be for quite some time thanks to the efforts of her family and her school.
In addition to her track meet, her photo and her basketball jersey take a significant place in the West Wendover High School Gym. There is also a scholarship in her name and there is talk of naming a street after the young woman. Mickie Costanzo will not soon be forgotten. In fact the pretty girl who always smiled is becoming a role model for local girls and a legend for everyone.
But as this daughter of Wendover is mourned and her memory is kept her killers are well on their way to living oblivion. In their most recent annual mugshots both killers exhibit a deadness in their eyes common to inmates.
The lives of Toni Fratto and Kody Patten in their respective prison are excruciatingly monotonous and at the same time incredibly tense.
Nevada’s Maximum Security Prison in Ely, Patten’s current home is called the “Graveyard”. According to former and present inmates Ely Max earned its name due to what they call the larger than normal number of deaths at the facility than other prisons.
“Ely State Prison is a place of death, stagnation, misery, pain, loneliness and indeterminate lock down. If you were to take a walk on one of these depressing tiers back here in “the hole,” you would hear many disembodied voices ring out, yelling in anger and frustration, trying to tell you how bad it is for us in here, in between the isolated confines of steel and stone.” Wrote an inmate under the pseudonym of ‘Coyote’ “…I can see why Ely State Prison is labeled “The Graveyard,” there are so many deaths there. It is a locked down, maximum security prison, all but half of one unit – the workers unit – which is on one side of Unit 8…”
Patten was sentence to life in prison with no possibility of parole. While Patten escaped a death sentence with a guilty plea he may come to regret it.
There has not been an execution in Nevada in over 30 years and Death Row is considered the nicest place to do time by inmates and guards. The most common cause of death in ESP general population is suicide.
While fellow killer Toni Fratto received what could be considered a more lenient punishment it is so only as a possible
According to law Fratto must serve at least 10 years of her life sentence before she is eligible for parole and then at least eight years of the enhancement for use of a deadly weapon before she could see a release from prison. With her time already served in the Elko County Jail taken into account Fratto could conceivably serve just 17 more years in prison before she is released.
But while possible it is considered extremely unlikely that Fratto will serve the bare minimum of her sentence. Most first parole requests especially for violent crimes such as Fratto’s are denied almost as a matter of course. In addition, relatives of the victim are always notified and invited to attend and participate in parole hearings by the board.
Most would agree that anyone from Mickie Costanzo’s family will plead with the board to release their daughter’s killer early is an extremely unlikely scenario. Much more likely would be a passionate request to keep Fratto behind bars longer.
The biggest factor in just how long Toni Fratto will remain behind bars is of course Toni Fratto and even the most generous assessment of the girl’s character does not bode well for an early release.
Fratto a girl with no history of any child abuse from a large family and a loving home and a devout religious upbringing helped commit the most violent, vicious murders in Wendover’s history.
While her few defenders have blamed Kody Patten’s influence on the girl, the fact remains that Fratto came from a place few inmates in the Nevada woman’s prison can imagine let alone dream about.
And yet surrounded by this broad deep support network, Toni Fratto slaughtered a 16 year old girl because as suggested by her psychological report Kody Patten told her to or as suggested by Patten’s lawyers Fratto was cold calculating evil girl.
Whether as sheep or black widow Fratto’s personality does not bode well for keeping out of serious trouble at the Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Center.
The prison located in North Las Vegas houses all Nevada women felons from those convicted of so called victim-less crimes to the most brutal vicious women in the state.
Although not as stressful or as violent as a men’s prison the facility has seen its share of inmate on inmate violence and even inmate on staff violence.
If Toni Fratto is a sheep there are easily over 100 female Kody Paten’s at Florence McClure to get her to do their bidding and if she is a black widow she will be one among many.
Either way Fratto could rack up a list of infractions that would kill her chances of an early release.
“For a very few of the inmates here, the minimum is a real goal and they keep their noses clean,” he said. “But you have to understand you aren’t dealing with normal people. They really don’t have control over their impulses. Most of the inmates here will serve everyday of their maximum sentence.”
In Fratto’s case her maximum is life.